Frequently Asked Questions

Plan to arrive to the audition thirty to forty minutes early so that you have ample time to warm up. At the start of the audition students will gather in our Elizabeth Sherbon Black Box theater where Michelle Heffner Hayes, professor and chair of Dance, will introduce faculty, talk briefly about the department, and answer any questions you or your parents may have. After this, dancers will transition to the ballet studio where faculty will lead technique courses. The technique courses will consist of a variety of ballet barre, adagio & allegro, modern phrases, and jazz combinations. This technique class will last approximately an hour and a half.

Following the technique course dancers will be asked to perform solos. Student volunteers will be on hand to help notify you when you are next to perform your solo as well as to help assist with music.

The department must be in receipt of youraudition application, as well as your essay outlining your dance background and professional aspirations by the application deadline. The application deadline will be listed on the department's calendar. The department will grant some leniency in the timing of which we have received letters of recommendation, however students who do not have a complete application cannot be considered for scholarships or entry into the BFA program.

Throughout the auditions faculty will evaluate dancers on range of movement, dynamic contrast, body connectedness, shaping of space, balance, breath support, and grounded movements. For solos, the faculty expect to see work that best highlights your personal strengths as a dancer.

It is the department's policy to notify students of their audition results within thirty days of the audition date. Students will be notified of their results by letter sent via the US Postal Service. Due to finite funding, the department typically waits until after the spring auditions are complete in order to make final scholarship offers. Therefore, students who audition in the fall will be notified within thirty days as to whether or not they have been accepted into the BFA program, however scholarship offers will not be sent to fall auditioners until thirty days after the spring audition date. In rare circumstances the department makes immediate scholarship offers to fall auditioners who are of exceptional talent.

The department's sound systems can accommodate devices that require an auxiliary port in order to be played or compact discs (CDs). Please bring your own device or CD for your solo, the department will provide the auxiliary chord and/or CD player. During your solos a faculty member or current scholarship student will be on hand to cue your music.

The department of Dance is located inside Robinson Center at 1301 Sunnyside Avenue. Robinson Center is conveniently located within walking distance to both a parking garage and a moderately restricted parking lot. If you are visiting the department on the weekend for auditions, the department encourages you to park in lot 90, located just south of Robinson Center.

If you are visiting the department on a weekday during normal business hours, the department encourages that you park in the parking garage located on the southwest corner of Sunnyside Avenue and Naismith Drive. There is a small hourly fee for parking in this garage.

Please pay attention to posted signs regarding lot restrictions. Parking tickets are costly and the Dance department is unable to waive parking fees that are assessed during visits or auditions.

The department makes every effort not to schedule auditions on days where basketball home games are scheduled as parking becomes heavily restricted during these events.

Who do you find standing at intersection of art and science? Someone like Natali Diaz-Yepes, who graduated in May with a double major in dance and genetic biology. To prepare for her senior dance recital, Diaz-Yepes navigated lecture halls and dance floors, chemistry and choreography, body and mind.